A New World
On the continent of Falmart, the Saderan Empire ruled a vast swathe of land with an iron grip. Countless races were enslaved and fellow humans were forced to bow to the might of the Empire. On a certain hill, an otherworldly Gate would open, and the Empire, never one to miss a chance to gain greater glory, quickly mustered an army to cross the threshold. But they knew not what was beyond it.
A realm full of riches and splendor.
A realm fraught with danger and death.
A realm of steel and concrete.
As Imperial troops prepared for their interplanar conquest, another phenomenon occurred not too far from the Gate. A similar extra-dimensional rift, one born from the chaotic energies whose source was not known. Opening in the depths of a nearby forest, six beings were then spat out before the rift violently closed, disappearing as if it was never there to begin with.
These beings were to be a wind of change in the following days, a headwind of revolution alongside what would be a tide of green…
The crackling of firewood accompanied the sounds of nature as birds and insects chirped and buzzed around. Seated around a campfire in a clearing by the side of a dirt road were two figures.
The first one wore a set of red and blue plate armor, brutal in its design and giving the motif of a veritable demon. The helmet was set aside, revealing a fairly young-looking man. His gunmetal gray eyes eyed the hunk of meat on the spit as it slowly rotated. He sported purposefully unkempt dark brown hair, which, combined with his light stubble, gave him an air of nonchalance…
If one didn't take into consideration the greatsword resting on the log he was sitting on. It was a massive thing, more akin to a hunt of steel encased in the same brutal red and blue plate as his armor. Even lying there on the log, it gave off a faint heat, one that was mixed with the heat of the campfire.
The second wore white and pink armored robes, the design more ceremonial and regal than anything else. Rather than a helmet, a mask had been pulled to the side of man's head, revealing a youthful visage, clean-shaven and well-groomed. The pink faux-hair attached to the fox-like mask masked his hair, but strands of raven locks were clear within all the pink. Verdant green eyes were locked on to the hunk of meat as he slowly spun it on the spit, waiting just for the right moment to-!
Sizzle..!
-raise the well-done meat from the spit, the scent of a perfectly cooked meal wafting across their makeshift camp.
"Finally." The stubbled man chuckled as he leaned on his knees, a smirk on his lips. "That took almost forever."
"It's just because you're hungry." The robed man rolled his eyes before he tossed the hunk of meat, which he held by one end of a protruding bone, over at his compatriot. "Here, I'll start up another one."
"Nice!"
As he walked over to a nearby tree, where hanging on a rope tied around one of its branches was another hunk of raw meat, thankfully not having been swarmed by flies or any other annoyances. It was around the size of half of his torso and looked just as heavy, but he easily untied and carried it back to the campfire before he was stopped by a low growl coming from the tree line.
Looking over, and then slowly looking up, his green met with glowing blues, the red slit-like iris locked on to him.
"Sekken, no." The robed man chided the owner of the pair of glowing eyes, his tone stern as he shook his head. "You already had your fill."
Another low growl, almost a whine, came from the treeline, accompanied by a few bubbles that floated over to him.
"No means no, Sekken." The man sighed as he continued his way back to the campfire, ignoring the low whine that followed after him.
The armored man ripped away the last strands of meat off of the bone of his meal with his teeth, cheeks bulging as he chewed and swallowed. With a content sigh, he tossed the bone into the fire as he patted his stomach, using a towel he pulled out from one of the pouches on his waist to wipe his lips.
"See, this is why I sent Gurion out to hunt for food on his own."
The robed man set the fresh meat on the spit as he sat down on a rock they rolled over earlier. "We don't even know where we are, and you sent him off on his own? Are you insane, Davion?"
"Relax, he'll be fine." The man called Davion waved off his companion's insult. "He knows how to take care of himself, Ryo."
"Yeah, 'take care of himself' by that you mean 'eventually burn the whole forest down if something pisses him off'."
"Eh, if it happens, Sekken can always put it out."
Rumble…Rumble…
The two men stopped their conversation as the ground started to shake in a pattern, in steps that were gradually coming closer to them. The robed man slowly reached over to grab the handle of what seemed to be a massive ceremonial instrument composed of a collection of bells, tinkling harmoniously as he slowly lifted it from the ground before he placed his foxlike mask back on his face.
Davion put on his helmet and lifted his greatsword without any issue, strapping it on his back as the two of them looked towards the end of the road where all the sounds were coming from.
They didn't wait long before what looked like a caravan began making its way down the road, escorted by what looked like soldiers wearing armor that was somewhat archaic to them. Spears and shields, they were familiar with, but they seemed so…small. Some of them were riding horses, and they seemed to be more decorated than the others.
Two columns of soldiers flanked the large, wooden carriages, protecting it from both sides. They were rowdy, grins on their faces and raucous in their tone as they marched along. The one at the lead, who had a helmet with a bright plume on top, spotted them and held up a hand to stop the convoy.
Both Ryo and Davion shared a glance before the former stepped forward, putting his oversized musical tool on a special holster on the back of his armor. Each step he made caused the bells to sound off, creating a harmonious droning as he approached them.
"Greetings!" Ryo raised a hand placatingly, keeping a fair distance between them when he saw a few react negatively to his presence. "My friend and I seem to be lost. Is it too much trouble to ask for a map?"
Silence.
The soldiers seemed to look at each other before speaking in an unknown tongue, one that seemed far too archaic for him to understand.
Behind his mask, his brows furrowed, unsure of how to resolve the dilemma of the language barrier. He began trying different dialects, from Yukumo to even Felyne of all things, hoping that one would eventually click, accompanied by a series of hand signs as well as gestures.
Eventually, the one at the lead of the caravan had enough of his theatrical attempts and began aggressively motioning him to stop after minutes of fruitless efforts, unsheathing his rather short sword and pointing it towards him, yelling a series of commands in their incomprehensible tongue.
Raising both of his hands, the robed man took a few steps back, obviously getting the message to back off. This seemed to ease the soldiers as they continued their way, though they kept a sharp eye on the two of them as they passed. Ironically, it was probably the only thing that they actually understood from each other.
"Tough crowd." Davion drawled as he crossed his arms, returning the glares of the soldiers with one of his own.
"Their tongue, have you ever heard of it before?" Ryo asked him, veiled annoyance clear in his tone.
"No, and I've been to Nua Te and heard their lingo there–"
"It's not, that too-"
"Tasuketekudasai!"
Hana Fujikawa didn't know what was going on.
One moment she and her friends were shopping at Ginza during their school break, and then all of a sudden this Gate suddenly appeared and brought with it all these men and creatures. They had all been stunned at the sight, many believing that it was an elaborate show of technology, holograms, the sorts.
Then all hell broke loose.
Bang!
One of them barked something in a strange language as he hit the side of the wagon with his spear, and she saw a few of the armored soldiers jeering at them through the bars.
There were other people from Ginza in the wagon they were in, all in varying states. People from all walks of life were there, businessmen, store clerks, other students such as her, and even children.
She hugged a shivering child close to her. The poor thing was absolutely traumatized.
"It's gonna be okay," She soothed him despite her own shaky voice. "The army is going to rescue us soon…"
Seeing men and women alike being killed in front of her had made her freeze when it all came crashing down, her classmates having split up to avoid capture or just out of sheer panic. She wasn't so lucky and was quickly manhandled and slapped on with a metal collar. She had felt their hands fondle her as she kicked and screamed, and the bruises on her body were a result of their attempts to curb her defiance.
The other occupants of the wagon remained quiet, their eyes fearfully darting towards the door that had been locked shut.
Hana kept on clinging to the faint hope of rescue, even as the hours had passed since her capture.
She kept on believing that she was going to get out of this alive. Her and everybody else here.
'Please, God, help us!'
Then, as if answering her prayers, the wagon slowed to a stop. The slave train had stopped, and the soldiers were talking to each other in their strange tongue. She tried to peer out, but with the limited view given to her by the barred window, she could barely see what caused the entire convoy to stop.
"B-Big sis, what is it…?" The child, desperately hugging her side, whimpered out. He was a young boy, bruised and hurt, having clearly been separated from his mother. His blonde hair was matted and ragged, and his foreign blue eyes locked onto her warm darks. He had oriental features for sure, and she wondered if either his mother or his father was a foreigner.
"I…I don't know…" Hana murmured as she heard the soldiers speaking in their foreign tongue. "I can't see what made them stop…"
From further down the convoy, she heard what she could only describe as an archaic guttural speech coming from someone that she presumed was not part of the convoy. It continued on for a while, with the tones of their captors seemingly getting more and more agitated at what the newcomer was saying.
Then, she heard-
"-kigenyou!"
Japanese?
It was an odd, almost archaic, as well as colloquial diction, but comprehensible Japanese nonetheless. That was without a doubt, if only there was that slim chance that she could find someone that could help them.
Her heart soared at the prospect of a possible rescue. For who else would speak Japanese in this strange and foreign land? But before she could capitalize on the chance, there was more shouting in the foreign tongue again, and the wagon started to move once more.
No!
She heard the horses whinny and whine, but the crack of their reins forced them to move. "No..!" she cried, dismayed.
Not when they were so close!
"Help us, please!" She cried out desperately, practically slamming herself against the wall where the barred window was.
There, standing in seeming surprise as they passed by, were two armored figures. One had brutal-looking red and blue plate armor, almost looking like some sort of dark knight in the fantasy games one of her friends loved playing. He even had a massive sword on his back, and the blank eye slits of the helmet seemed to light up as glowing blue eyes seemed to flash at the sight of her.
The other looked more akin to a groom in a traditional wedding, kimono and all. He seemed to be wearing what looked like a fox mask adorned with pink hair. He carried a massive kagura suzu on his back, and he seemed to be visibly intrigued at the sight of her, having taken a step forward.
"Please!"
"Onegaidakara!"
Ryo's eyes widened at the sight of the young woman, a young girl on the cusp of adulthood, more like. She looked disheveled, bruised, and a deep sense of desperation in her eyes as she begged him. She was speaking some variant of Yukumo, but he could understand her well enough. There were a variety of other voices coming from the carriage and from the other carriages too, causing some of the soldiers to bash their shields against the side in an effort to shut them up.
But the two had seen and heard more than enough.
"This isn't a supply convoy…" Davion whispered to Ryo, a growing sense of recognition in his voice that was soon replaced with a smoldering rage.
!
Looking over to his right, he could already see his friend sprinting to the front of the convoy, the bells on his weapon sounding off with each bounding step.
"Hey, wait!"
The eyes of the mask glowed in defiance, almost leaving a visible trail at how fast he was sprinting. He could not wait nor stand idly any longer. Stopping before the lead of the caravan, he extended one arm in order to halt the convoy once more.
"Why do you have them with you?!" Ryo demanded as he spoke with a growing rage in his tone. He glared at the plumed officer, not caring whether or not his language would be understood, only that his message would get across. Said officer glared back at him before unsheathing his short blade again and pointing at him, yelling once more in that strange language of theirs.
'Damn it, I just can't understand what he's saying!'
Fwhip!
He instinctively twisted his body just as a projectile whizzed by him, his eyes catching the tail end of an arrow as it flew past. Tracing its path, he saw one of the decorated soldiers behind the plumed one holding a bow that was aimed at him.
'That wasn't a warning shot...'
A glint in the light was all the warning he needed to dash to the side just as a volley of javelins landed where he was.
"Hey!" Ryo snarled out towards the soldiers off to the side, the ones on horseback that were preparing to charge at him. "We only want to talk-!"
Fyoosh!
A jet of water flew past him and impacted the ground at the feet of the horse-mounted soldiers, turning it muddy. Not that the mud would have stopped the horses in the first place, as the sudden jet of water had spooked the animals enough for them to rear up and dislodge their riders.
Then, with an ear-piercing roar, a Mizutsune came out from the tree line, eyes glowing in rage as it quickly slithered its way toward him.
"Sekken!" He cried out in dismay at the same time as the soldiers yelled out in fear and surprise, quickly raising his arms and attempting to placate the provoked wyvern. "Stop!"
The Leviathan snarled at the soldiers as it circled around him protectively, trailing suds and bubbles before it came to a stop beside him. Nearly three times the height of a man, the massive creature dwarfed even the carriages, and the mere sight of it almost drove the horses into a fear-induced frenzy, neighing and whinnying in a panic.
'There goes the diplomatic talks!'
"Alright." Ryo grit his teeth as he unholstered his Hunting Horn, the bells of the eponymously named Summoning Bell tinkling at the movement as he hefted it over his shoulder. He sent a glare, unseen but definitely felt behind his mask. "Now, can we all calm down and talk like-?"
Crash!
The sound of clattering metal met his ears as a handful of soldiers were sent flying over the carriages. Looking over to the source, he found Davion with his Greatsword, Glavenus Array, in hand. The armored man seemed to be surprised if his stunned body language was of any indication.
"Davion!" The Hunting Horn user chided his friend.
"I-I didn't think I'd send them flying that easily!" The Greatsword user retorted as he swung his sword again when a few more soldiers charged at him. Struck with the flat of his blade, they, too, suffered the same fate as their compatriots, being sent flying over the carriages and into the bushes on the other side of the road.
"I didn't want it to turn out this way!"
"Yeah?! Well, tell that to General Gobbledigook over there!"
The foreign men screamed as the dark knight-like man batted them aside with unnaturally shocking strength. He made sure to not use the edged side of his blade despite the fact that his opponents were trying to kill him. A few arrows flew towards him, but they simply pinged off of his armor, and the baleful blue glare from his helmet carried with it an intimidating pressure that settled on the field.
"W-What's happening?"
"They're fighting, they're fighting! Maybe they'll rescue us!"
The people in the carriage stirred and clamored, trying their best to peer through the barred window she was looking through. She could hear bestial roars and the sound of pressurized water alongside the scared whinnying of horses and the gentle tinkles of what she could only assume was the massive kagura suzu the other man carried. While she was glad that there wasn't any bloodshed just yet, a part of her was angry and disappointed that the brutish and barbaric men that captured them weren't suffering-!
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
The ground began shaking, so much so that the entire carriage rocked, further inciting panic within the occupants. It was in a pattern, almost like-!
Crash!
Another loud roar forced them all to cover their ears, the roar itself a bestial sound of something big entering the fray.
The armored man seemed to exclaim something as he looked over to his left, towards some unseen thing that was causing more of the foreign soldiers to panic. He removed a hand from his sword and gestured…something to whatever it was he was talking to. The language he spoke wasn't one she was familiar with at all.
Something glowed on the back of the armored man's left hand, pulsing with green light before he focused back on defending himself. With another swing of his sword, he launched a couple of soldiers into the side of the carriage, the impact almost causing the whole thing to topple over and for them to scream in surprise and fear.
He seemed to exclaim an apology, judging from his sheepish tone.
A few horses passed by the window she was looking at, bare of their riders as they scattered into the woods. From behind the convoy, she could practically feel the thudding steps of something big alongside the panicked screams of the soldiers as they were sent flying by some sort of impact.
Crash!
Ting-a-ling~!
The soothing melody that accompanied the crash and the sounds of the bell was…odd. It made them feel rejuvenated, and there was a fragrant scent in the air that was neither too strong nor too weak. Just enough for them to feel…clean?
Smash!
The other man seemed to say something in an angered tone, one that was mixed with disappointment and restrained disgust. Hana could only assume that it was some sort of call for a challenge? Fantasy people say that all the time in manga and anime, right?
Silence.
The dark knight-like man seemed to look around warily before looking over to his right, towards where the college student could assume was the robed man that sprinted ahead earlier was. Then, they spoke in that odd tongue of theirs, and judging from the tones they were…in disbelief? She assumed that they were talking about something about the fight now that it was over?
Hana could hear the sounds of rustling, of metal shifting, and then a sharp hiss of an inhale.
More talking, more of the odd tongue…
The armored man looked around once more before he approached the carriage she was in, looking straight at her. He then seemed to call over his friend with a wave, talking about something that faintly sounded like a Japanese word.
"Yu-ku-mo? I can speak it!" Hana cried out as she gripped the metal bars. "Please, let us out!"
The swordsman seemed to recoil in surprise before turning back to his compatriot, this time speaking in a more urgent tone. She could pick out the word 'Yukumo' again amidst their talk before a loud growl took his attention, causing him to look to the right and gesture to something to..seemingly…cup something? Gather something? Sweep something, maybe?
A frustrated sigh came from the other one, and this time he spoke in understandable Japanese!
"Understood… understood. Sekken, remain there if you will, understood? It would be bad for you to put fear into them."
He spoke in his odd archaic Japanese to this 'Sekken', this…'Soap'? What kind of name was 'Soap'?
There was a low whine after he said that, coming from whatever this 'Sekken' was, which definitely wasn't a human. The armored man sheathed his sword, saying something in their guttural language towards someone she couldn't see from in her cage before walking away to the rear of the wagon.
Jingle…
Turning her head, everyone in the carriage looked over at the shut doors as the sounds of chains being messed with entered their ears.
Smash!
There was the sound of chains breaking, the broken steel falling to the ground before the shrill sound of metal being bent and physically pulled as the doors bulged outwardly.
"Hnnnng!"
A few more tense seconds passed before the door finally gave way, shattering into a thousand splinters as it burst open outwardly. Sunlight streamed into the interior of the carriage, causing the gaping occupants to wince at the sight of the steel-reinforced wooden doors being broken apart like they were nothing.
Beyond the broken doors was the robed man with the massive kagura suzu, who was already tossing away a large piece of metal.
Patting his white armored gauntlets clean of any wayward splinters, the man put his hands on his hips as he tilted his head, his gaze seemingly locked on to the manacles around their wrists and the fetters around their ankles, all linked together with what looked like a thick iron chain.
He shook his head before gesturing them forward in a slow, almost gentle manner. Once they were all out, he spoke to them in the old Japanese tongue that she had only read about in classical literature.
"You can understand me, yes? Come. I shall remove those chains. You're free."
You're free.
Hana couldn't help the tears from spilling out and she wrapped her arms around the taller man, causing him to freeze as she bawled against the, absolutely, soft purple fur collar of his robes.
Davion huffed as he closed the doors to the second carriage, shaking his head. Rather than slaves, what he had found were odd trinkets, jewels, clothing, and even some mannequins wearing finely made clothing for men and women. It was all in a chaotic pile, and he was somewhat surprised that it didn't spill over when he opened the carriage doors.
His earlier feeling of disdain had slowly ebbed away at the sight of the unconscious soldiers, which Gurion had all pushed into a pile using the flat of his blade-like tail. He was glad that the Glavenus didn't instinctively use the bladed edge of his tail to strike first earlier. It would have been…messy.
There was a cry of surprise from the, now, freed prisoners, and he peered around the wagon's corner to see them pointing in shock and fear towards both Sekken and Gurion.
'Oh boy…'
"Huh? Oh, you mean Gurion? Don't worry, he won't hurt you!" He could hear Ryo trying to calm the panicking captives in Yukumoan. He could hear most of them speaking in a Yukumo dialect he'd never encountered before. While he couldn't speak fluent Yukumoan, he knew enough to tell what the other party was speaking of. However, for these curious people, their version had expressions and words mixed in that he couldn't translate well, but most of its structure was very much the same as the one he knew.
'Also…' He walked to the last two carriages, noting the lack of breathing, and broke the chains that shut their doors apart with slight effort. 'Who in the world still wears armor this archaic? And not to mention the odd clothing in that other carriage. It looked more modern, almost like Bnahabra armor but out of cloth and fabric.'
Thud!
Shoving aside the metal bar that acted as the last barrier between him, the doors, and the contents of whatever were inside these last two carriages, he opened the first and was met with what looked like standard hunting supplies. Rations, Whetstones, glass bottles that had some sort of red liquid in them– perhaps Demondrug– the like.
He closed that one but made a mental note to try and find the runaway horses from earlier. Their own supplies were running low. A part of him did not want to partake in spoils of war, but considering their first encounter with these…people, as well as the ones they liberated, they needed all the supplies they could manage.
To the victor goes the spoils, as the saying goes, anyway.
Walking over to the last one, he opened it and was met with what looked like camp supplies. If the other carriage had the food and such necessities, this one had the tents and materials needed to make a makeshift resting area for a small group. Bundles and rolls of cloth, coils of rope, tools, and miscellaneous flags and banners. He made another mental note to look for two pairs of horses to hitch onto the carriages that he was going to appropriate.
He paused, a sudden thought going through his mind. Leaning slightly once more to peer around the carriage, he found the now-freed slaves silently weeping in both joy and grief. The people that captured them, whoever they were, clearly had done wrong to them, if a fair few of them were looking at the pile of unconscious soldiers with malice in their eyes.
Understandable, given the state of most of them, bruised and with clear signs of having been mishandled. Though that's what he could see on the surface. If they were subjected to a more invasive sort of abuse… Then, it painted a clear picture of who these barbarians were.
As for moving forward, he's still yet to speak formally to that woman who called out for help, giving her time to collect herself. Maybe it would be better to provide them with these supplies? Judging from how they appeared, he was sure they were not equipped with any survival skills to survive out in these wilds. In fact, they seemed to be alien to the environment.
Leaving them alone was also out of the question, considering their meeting with the other types of people in the locality. There is highly likely more of these disagreeable individuals around that could simply recapture them.
…
They were going to have no choice but to take care of them, weren't they?
Flap..! Flap..!
The sound of distant wingbeats and the faint but distinct smell of blood entered his senses, causing him to look towards the Northeast and at the sky, squinting his eyes as he tried to peer past the canopy of the forests flanking the dirt road they were on. He could hear a familiar crackling, of growling and hissing, before–
Zzzzzap!
With a burst and surge of green lightning, an Astalos flew to a stop over their campsite, slowly landing amidst the panicked yells and screaming of the newly freed people.
It was understandable, really.
An Astalos was an absolute demon of a wyvern to deal with and to look at. Arrayed in dark green plates and scales that looked like they could cause horrific cuts just from a glancing blow, the volatile wyvern looked like the stuff of nightmares. It didn't help that it stank of blood, and there seemed to be a fresh coating of it all over the creature's snout and teeth, the sanguine liquid dripping down onto the grass below.
The horn vibrated, plate and sinew rubbing together and creating more green sparks as it looked around. The baleful red eyes locked on to the terrified civilians, and the beast growled before a lance made of similarly dark green plate whacked the side of its horn.
"None of that, Astaroth." The wielder of the lance, a figure on the back of the wyvern, chided. He wore armor similar to that of his mount, a dark green plate that looked like it was as capable in the offense as it was on defense with how sharp it looked. The helmet sported a singular horn that swept back, and the light green slit visor shifted from staring at the volatile wyvern to looking at the masked Hunting Horn user.
The Pink Hunting Horn user noticed the blood coating the end of the Gunlance, adding another layer of dread to the Dark Chariot.
"Ephraim, what happened?" Ryo asked the lancer as he got off the Astalos, approaching him with a hint of hurry in his steps. "Did both of you get hurt?"
"No, the idiots could barely leave a scratch on me or Astaroth." The Astalos' Rider shook his head as he jerked his Gunlance, activating the mechanism that folded it in half for better holstering on his back. "They didn't leave me any other choice other than to retaliate."
"Idiots? You got attacked? By who?"
"Yeah, by other Riders." That stopped Ryo as he looked at his green-armored comrade. "The strange thing was that they didn't have any Kinship Stones. And the Monsters they rode were…well, they had six limbs. Two wings and four legs, so they can't be Wyverns."
"Wait… they were riding Elders?" Davion piped up, walking away from the supply wagon and up to the two with his tone laced with a tinge of apprehension.
"Definitely not." 'Ephraim' drawled as he shook his head. "They were as pathetic as Remobras. Agile, sure, but unable to take even one of Astaroth's lightning bolts."
The aforementioned Astalos chirped in delight at his rider's acknowledgment of his strength.
The pink Rider cursed quietly as he checked his friend over. It never hurt to check. Bravado and Pride aside, any injury sustained on the field must be cared for instantly. Not to mention just what exactly attacked him. And the red liquid coating their forms was worrying.
"The survey was a bust…" Ryo muttered, crossing his arms and cupping his chin behind the mask. "Did you spot any more familiar landmarks nearby, at least? Or anything of note?"
"Nothing." Ephraim once more shook his head, his tone disappointed. "I did spot what looked like a village though, to the North. I was about to head back when I got rudely interrupted by these other riders." He tilted his head to peer at the wary civilians. "Other than that, further North of the village was what looked like a dry, rocky area, and to our West was some kind of hill that had a lot of movement happening at the base of it. There was a strange structure at the top. It looked like a temple of some sort."
He paused as if pondering his following words, gaze still locked at the civilians. "Now that I think about it, they also had a caravan, the same as this one. They were carrying people? What were they gonna do with them?"
"I don't know, but we'll get them out." Davion didn't hesitate to answer, stepping forward and banging a fist to his breastplate. "There's no way these people took them with good intentions."
"Even if it means facing more of them?" There was the ever faint hint of excitement bubbling up from beneath the lancer's calm facade. The Glavenus Rider knew that there was a reason the Astalos and his rider had bonded so quickly all those years ago. They shared an equal temperament when it came to being slighted.
Ryo sent a pondering look at Ephraim, whose glowing green slit visor was now steadfastly locked onto Davion's, and then moved his gaze toward him. "He has a point. What you did, even if we did good, was still reckless. We don't know our place here, we don't even know where we are, and now we have a bunch of refugees that we need to take care of and possibly a bunch of people who now want to hunt us down. We might have bitten off more than we can chew."
"I don't care who they were. I'm not going to put on the kiddie gloves when those idiots went straight for Astaroth's throat with their arrows." Ephraim turned to him with a hiss. "Those Wyvern Riders tried to joust me off of him, aimed straight for my chest without a second thought. These savages don't have a modicum of restraint. Why should I?"
Like Rider, like Partner, he could feel the enmity just wafting off his friend's form. He couldn't argue with what he said. These people truly did not have a sense of clemency. The first contact with the people they had seen ended in hostilities. But they had no right nor any authority to enact what they thought was correct.
Wherever they were, things weren't what they believed to be.
"I won't blame you for that. I'm asking to slow down for now." Ryo placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "We're running out of supplies, I can probably… claim the ones I found in the caravan. But I think they-" He motioned to the freed prisoners. "Need them more than we do. Not only that, but we also need to move; this forest isn't a suitable locale for us and them. If we can avoid painting a target on our backs, the better." The Mizutsune Rider tightened his hold on the Astalos Rider's shoulder.
"And where to, exactly?" Ephraim scoffed, a glare clear behind the visor. "To the village that I spotted? Who's to say that it isn't also filled with more of the scumbags and even more of the captives?"
"We take the chance, better than being out here. If there are, then we move to the next."
"How about we just knock those guys out and let nature sort them out?" Davion spoke up, stepping closer, just a step between the two just in case things got heated. "Like we did with these guys? Then we can get away with the captured people."
"And cause more problems? Our first encounter with people already ended in disaster."
Astaroth growled, taking a step closer towards the pile of unconscious soldiers, but was stopped when Gurion's blade tail dropped between the Astalos and the humans. The Glavenus snarled at the Astalos, and Sekken padded over between the two, narrowing his eyes onto both the Thunder and Bladed wyverns.
"It's better than doing nothing. You, of all people, should know." The Glavenus Rider put his foot down, both metaphorically and literally.
The green-armored Rider looked over at the scared civilians, maintaining his gaze for a long minute before he sighed, nodding in agreement. "Justice demands we do it, regardless of wherever we are. It just doesn't sit right with me, especially what they tried to do to us, and what they might've done to them especially."
"And we'll do that when it happens. But remember this, we're not judges or executioners. We're not Guild Knights. I guess I can excuse what we did just now as self-defense, but we're strangers here, outsiders. But if push comes to the shove, just don't go too overboard. It's better to be safe than sorry," Ryo removed his hand from his friend's shoulder, his expression softening in consideration behind the mask. "For now, avoid them, and let's start preparing these people for the long haul."
With a quiet sigh, Ephraim removed his helmet, revealing a young man with golden blonde hair and electric blue eyes. The conflict was still apparent in the lancer's eyes, as expressive as they were.
"...Fine."
The three of them together were an eclectic group, both in terms of arms, armor, and features, but they were a tight-knit party regardless.
"But before we take off, I want to scout again and make sure that the village I saw isn't chock-full of those savages. If it is, and they try to do something like earlier, nobody is holding me and Astaroth back… even if it means also hunting them."
"Well then, I'll just hope that they are not them, and they happily welcome you with some Dango." Ryo playfully tapped the armored chest of the lancer with a wry smile.
Davion released a sigh of relief. "Alright, I'm coming with. Ephraim, and I will look out ahead, we'll make sure it's safe both on the ground and in the air towards the village."
Ryo frowned. "Wait, you're ditching me with them?"
"I'm not the one who knows how to fluently speak Yukumo here. Besides, Gurion and I did our job, and we need you to gather info from these people."
Ryo grimaced to himself but nodded after a few seconds of contemplation. "Fine. Stay safe, you two."
As the Mizutsune Rider walked away to calm the liberated prisoners, both the lancer and the swordsman put on their helmets and raised their left hands, their Kinship Stones pulsing. Gurion and Astaroth stopped their tense staredown before they walked over to their respective Riders, passing by the scared and awed civilians without so much as a glance at them.
The Glavenus, which towered over everything present, even Sekken, laid on his stomach as Davion climbed to his back, years of experience making it look easy. Sitting down on the saddle, he turned to Ephraim, who had also mounted Astaroth.
"Where to?"
"Northwest." The green armored Rider answered, unholstering his Gunlance and loading in two new shells before flicking both halves together again. "It's far off in the forest, but I saw a bunch of dirt roads converge on a stone-paved one that looked bigger in the distance past the treeline. I'll fly ahead and check if there are any more of these caravans along the way to the village."
"Didn't Ryo say to avoid them? Weren't you going to scout the village?" Davion stared back dubiously.
"I can do that after I make sure that there isn't any other carriages carrying people. I'm not letting the possibility that there are people I could have saved but didn't to linger in my mind..." The slits of his visor seemed to glow with heavy emotion, and the green portions of his armor mirrored that, almost as if responding to his mood. With that, the Astalos leapt up into the air, wings, tail, and horn vibrating and causing more green sparks to arc out before they quickly flew Northwest.
Ryo returned back shortly after he took off, staring at the growing distant form of the green Rider and his Astalos. "He…didn't even get to resupply…"
"...I'll carry those for him, we won't be long." Davion reached out and stowed away the water skins onto his saddle. The Glavenus Rider waved at his friend before both the Brute Wyvern and its partner charged through the Forest, quickly disappearing amidst the shadows and greenery.
This left both the Mizutsune and its Rider to take care of the wary civilians, who were currently staring at him now that the other four attractions had gone off into the horizon. He sighed as Sekken also began nervously fidgeting in place, all attention directed solely towards both of them.
He cleared his throat. "Now. Can anyone else speak Yukumo?"
It was a little past noon when the two riders returned, unhurt and unbowed. Davion was on Gurion, leading a procession of carriages that were manned by unchained prisoners, wary in their gaze and rightfully paranoid. Ephraim stuck to the rearmost of the caravans, keeping watch for any potential retaliation atop Astaroth.
Ryo went over to greet them with a relieved smile, which then promptly turned to shock as he noticed the new company, then to utter discontent.
Soon, unchained prisoners disembarked from the carriages, the doors clearly having been damaged by either of the two to allow them to open and close them as they saw fit. People ran to and fro, hugging each other and crying in relief as what they presumed were lost family members and loved ones were reunited, friends torn apart now together, and a hefty weight off of their shoulders.
The Mizutsune Rider crossed his arms as he watched them with a strained smile, and Sekken nudged his shoulder with his snout with a low trill, with Ryo humming in agreement.
"Yep, we never should have left them alone, Sekken."
Davion almost seemed to look away in embarrassment as he saw the blank look of the fox mask drill holes into his being. "Uh, we passed by them along the way." He walked up beside Ryo, taking his helmet off as he sighed, resting it on his side as he laughed nervously. Gurion merely huffed as he walked a bit further into the treeline and began sharpening his tail.
"Mmmhmm… And the people who captured them?" Ryo indifferently responded.
"Knocked out with no casualties, apart from their fake elder dragons, don't worry, they didn't even know what hit them."
Zzzzap!
At the sound of crackling electricity, the Astalos rider rounded up the last of the caravans and dismounted after landing nearby, promptly joining the other two. On his way towards them, he stared defiantly at the foxed visage of his friend as he took off his helmet and hung it on a latch from his belt.
Ryo breathed out a tired sigh, to which the blonde smirked at. "I'm not even going to bother at this point, it's already too late for that. Did you scout out the village at least?"
"Oh, speaking of." The Glavenus Rider pulled out a rolled parchment from one of the pouches hanging from his belt. "We found a map of the area while we were uh… encountering the other caravans. We can use this to guide the caravan to the nearby village."
Ryo took the offered scroll and unfurled it.
It depicted a large continent that none were familiar with, with mountain ranges, various settlements, and what looked like the sea further to their East, over the mountain range closest to them. There were some scribbles and notes that were written in an unfamiliar text, most likely the language of the natives they 'liberated' it from.
Ephraim then also pulled out and unrolled another piece of parchment from his pouches. "I cross-referenced it with the one I made from previous scouting. It has some missing details, though. But, at least, I pinpointed where we exactly are."
"Do tell." Ryo looked to and fro between maps, trying to spot the differences.
Ephraim's gauntleted hand pointed a finger to a note he wrote on his drafted map and moved it to the closest point of where it should be on the map they had found.
"We're here, in the Forest between this Hill and this Mountain Range."
His sketched map consisted of the majority of the forest they were in, and the Hunting Horn user cross-referenced the landmarks, leading to both him and Davion to understand where they were.
"I spotted houses in the trees over here."
The Mizutsune rider raised a brow as he eyed the small circle just a bit to the Northeast of their little encampment, signified by a tent that the blonde had drawn. He had drawn a bunch of what looked like treehouses clumped up together.
"There's a possible Military Encampment here."
Further to the West of the forest they were in, Ephraim had drawn a big hill with a temple-like structure on top. At the base of the hill, he had drawn squiggly lines and little signs of commotion.
"There was a lot of activity at the base of the Hill. Plenty of movement. Could mean something big, and these caravans had to come from somewhere nearby."
"Well, that's something to avoid." Davion spoke up, also looking at the maps and committing it to memory.
Ryo hummed in agreement.
To the Northwest, almost at the corner of the blonde's sketched map, was a large question mark over what looked like a wall. There was a large road drawn leading towards it, and the road led past between the Hill and the Forest, going further south to a question mark.
"A Fortified area. A City? A Fortress maybe? Paved roads converge and lead towards it."
Cross-referencing it to the map, they found that it was indeed some sort of walled settlement, one that seemed to be in a flatlands, based on the topography of the liberated map.
Aside from the Mountain Range to the East and another Forest further South of the Hill, there wasn't anything else the blonde had drawn from his previous scouting flight. Still, it was precious information to give them a better idea of the lay of the land. All the meticulous details that Ephraim has also pointed out match the ones that they found on the official map, with notable landmarks such as Rivers, Grasslands, and even a dry stretch of land between the Walled Settlement and the Village, which he labeled Rocky Plains.
"Well, that's about it." Davion chuckled as he traced a path from their campsite to the village he had spotted. "Only issue now is how are we going to round up all the people we got. We had to uh… take some creative measures earlier to get them to follow us earlier."
"Leave the people to me. All of them seem to speak an odd Yukumo-variant dialect. They seem to call it 'Nihongo' or something." Ryo reassured them before almost slowly double-taking. "...I'm sorry, creative measures?"
"So, I guess we're packing up now?" Ephraim rolled up his drafted map. As he scanned the people they had liberated, some stole glances towards them apprehensively, the others talking amongst themselves in earnest before cupping his chin, lost in thought.
"As soon as we can." The pink-armored rider nodded, letting it slide that neither of the two answered his question. "The faster we can get these people, more people than I initially prepared for, mind you, to safety, the better it is for all of us. I'll tell them to get on the carriages again. It's time we get them somewhere more secure than in the middle of this forest."
Davion huffed, attaching his helmet to his belt. "The village we saw is some distance away. With how many we are, It would take a few more hours to reach it."
"Then I guess we better get going. Most of everyone is thankfully not too beaten up in their time in captivity. But for the ones who can't, we can prioritize them riding the carriages along with the children. I gave them as much aid as I could, but we're on a strict timetable." The pink rider began walking away to start rounding the people.
"Hold on." Ephraim called out, pausing Ryo in his tracks and catching Davion's attention. "I'll do a quick scouting run on the village, to make sure that it's not filled with barbarian soldiers that'll be waiting to ambush us. I didn't get to do so earlier because we got...side-tracked."
Ryo stared at him with exasperation, which led to the blonde to roll his eyes.
"I'll be quick, and high up in the air. I'll even use clouds as cover while I survey the area. I could also spot any patrols that may cross paths with us coming from the Hill." The green armored Rider explained.
"Is it really a good move though? Who knows when those soldiers we knocked out could wake up again." The Mizutsune Rider replied, his fox mask expressing uncertainty.
"Then just knock 'em out again." The blonde growled, his expression twisting into distaste before he wiped it away with a huff. "Knock them out, strip them of any weapons and armors, and then tie them up or toss 'em into a Pitfall Trap."
"A Pitfall Trap's going to make a lot of noise, what with the controlled explosion making said pit, after all." Davion warned.
"Just do whatever is necessary to keep the people safe." The Astalos Rider put on his helmet and raised his left hand. His Kinship stone pulsed and Astaroth walked over, allowing his Rider to mount the saddle once more. "I'll be back sharpish."
With a powerful flap of his wings, the Astalos flew through the canopy again and high into the air, quickly being lost in sight as the two remaining Riders and their partners seemingly stared at the retreating duo flatly.
AN:
Hello, and welcome to another story of mine that I've left collecting dust in my Docs! I didn't really want it to remain there, so I might as well upload it for people to read. No guarantees this'll get updated anytime soon, thought that may change as the ebb and flow of my Mojo is a damn fickle mistress.
Anyway, this pilot/chapter takes place in the time between the Ginza Attack/Opening of the Gate and the Expedition of the JSDF into Falmart. My Gate lore's pretty rusty, especially since it's been months since I last edited this, but iirc there were a few months of time between the events. So, yeah.
Three Riders and their Monsties appear in Falmart in the time between that. And I'm using the feats of the Monsties in Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin.
Yes. That means Kinship Attacks.
I've got a bunch of ideas I want to implement for this story, but, again, they'll be for a later time.
Oh, and the Riders are wearing and using armor and weapons from their Monsties' tree. Is it kinda messed up? I guess, but it's really for themes.
Right! This is Cipher, signing off. Enjoy the story!
[Edit: 4/23/24]
Project Ryo was a little iffy with some lore inconsistencies so he asked to revamp the chapter. Those who read the original can tell what changed. Biggest being the presence of the 'Monster Hunter Language' that the three are speaking and the even bigger language barrier between them and the Japanese. Hope you still enjoy!